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Smartass Birb controversy
The Smartass Birb controversy occurred from around September 21, 2017, to October 17, 2017. However, the main events of the controversy occurred from October 1 to October 10, 2017, as myriad arguments spanned YouTube, Twitter, and Discord. It was primarily centered on a user named Smartass Birb and his adverse reactions to negative criticism, in addition to his sociopolitical views. The Events of the Controversy Smartass Birb joined YouTube on September 21, 2017, about four months after closing his previous account, SuperFunnyBros. That closure arose from an earlier controversy that resulted in him having a falling out with many in the commentary community. He claimed that the Smartass Birb channel was his attempt at starting anew, with a clean slate. He had been known for making political videos before on his old channel, and so he continued to make them on his new channel as well. In addition to opening a new account on YouTube, he also opened new Patreon and Twitter accounts. However, it soon became apparent that Smartass Birb was in many ways just like how he was on SuperFunnyBros. He was still very defensive about his critics, both of his videos and of his previous controversy, and he would often direct his dissenters to a private Discord server so he could debate them. However, this server also contained his friends, who would often give him unfair leverage over the people criticizing them. On top of this, he also continued to deny his actions involving his previous controversy, to the point of calling his accusations "borderline libel." This led to vast amounts of criticism towards his actions and his content. Nowhere was this more apparent than when he uploaded a video titled "I'm Gay and I'm Not Oppressed." Uploaded on October 1, 2017, this video was particularly criticized for having haphazard organization, myopic and nonsensical arguments, and a blatant bias against Islam and social justice warriors, despite Smartass Birb's claim that he tries to be as objective as possible in his disclaimers. On October 6, 2017, the video was posted by Angryjon on the #politicaljargon text channel of a Discord server known as "The Usual Gang of Hoes," which is run by youngbloodfantasy91 and Kevin Striker and has 8363MTR, SpaceGuru5, Angryjon, Snapshot_Tiger, ThisIsntNotMetal, and Boonslayer as just some of its members. Upon seeing the video, 8363MTR and SpaceGuru5 vowed to make a co-op commentary on it, while ThisIsntNotMetal would try to go it solo (though his solo video never came through). Over the next three days, 8363MTR and SpaceGuru5 were hard at work to create the script. As they worked, more and more things kept rolling along regarding Smartass Birb's responses to criticism. This got to the point where SpaceGuru5 himself became involved in trying to counter Birb's arguments. Up until October 9, 2017, the two argued about the existence of Birb's Discord server to debate things with him, as well as Birb's general reaction to negative criticism. In essence, SpaceGuru5 was able to expose Birb as an insecure coward. When Birb deleted the comment thread in which he and SpaceGuru5 argued about the presence of the Discord server, SpaceGuru5 took it upon himself to post a screencap of the thread to Twitter and post the link to the status on the comments section.SpaceGuru5's Twitter post, 09 Oct 2017 All of this culminated into a massive chain of Tweets posted by Smartass Birb decrying his critics, defending his video, and threatening to block his dissenters. Combined, the Tweets read: :"Everyone in the cc should unfollow me now and leave me alone. I'm sick of arguing about this and it needs to end. I'm trying to start anew with a new channel and brand, but I'm getting bogged down by people for my past mistakes. The funny thing is I did political videos before Cammy and no one had any issue with it. The only difference was I was hard left before I turned center. The reason you guys hate me is because you can't handle having friends with opposing viewpoints. I stand by everything I said in the video. You also hate me because of a lie perpetuated by Redden and Skihound regarding the gofundme. Hobbes can tell you that I didn't steal the money. It's borderline libel at this point. This conversation is officially over. Anyone that attempts to bring it back up will be blocked. You've been warned." :~ Smartass Birb's Tweets, 09 Oct 2017Smartass Birb's Twitter posts, 09 Oct 2017 Aftermath Several hours later, the situation died down. On October 10, 2017, Smartass Birb made a TwitLonger post apologizing for his behavior and promising to never start or try to finish drama like this ever again, while still defending his viewpoints. :"I apologize for my irrational behavior on Twitter recently. Scarlet Otaku, along with a couple of my friends, showed me the error in my ways and I realized I handled the situation so poorly that it was unbecoming of me. ... I still stand by everything I said in my video, however. You can disagree with it if you wish, but everything I said in that video was factually correct. ... I feel that I may have burned some bridges after this whole Twitter drama. I'm not expecting everyone or anyone to forgive me anytime soon. But in the end, we move on, and I'm going to grow my channel and promise not to start or try to finish drama like this ever again." :~ Excerpts from Smartass Birb's TwitLonger post, 10 Oct 2017Smartass Birb's TwitLonger post, 10 Oct 2017 Later that same day, SpaceGuru5, having taken time away from the situation and thought about what had transpired, made a post on his blog explaining his part in the drama and his regret for going to the extreme to call Birb out. SpaceGuru5's blog post, 10 Oct 2017 By October 10, 2017, Smartass Birb's account and all of its videos were Unlisted. Meanwhile, despite regretting his extreme behavior, SpaceGuru5 still stands by everything that he said about Birb during the whole controversy. He believes this whole situation to be a warning against letting one's emotions get the better of their own judgment. :"There's only one lesson to be learned out of this entire crazy mess, and that's to never let your emotions get the better of your judgment. So many bridges were burned in this situation, and so many people were affected by what happened these past few days. Hobbes had the great misfortune of both being forcefully dragged into this and having to pick sides between his large group of friends. And of course, I had the misfortune of helping to make this whole brouhaha even crazier. ... Please, for the love of god, don't make the same mistakes we all made." :~ Excerpts from SpaceGuru5's blog post, 10 Oct 2017 On October 17, 2017, Smartass Birb posted a Twitter status declaring the cessation of political videos and instead putting more focus on gaming content.Smartass Birb's Twitter post, 17 Oct 2017 On that same day, the "I'm Gay and I'm Not Oppressed" video was deleted by Smartass Birb. His account is now public again. References Category:Controversies Category:2010s